Assessment of Greek Pre-service Primary Teachers’ Efficacy Beliefs in Physics Teaching

Abstract

ABSTRACT International research shows that primary school teachers don’t have the necessary level of self-efficacy to provide high quality science learning and teaching opportunities to their students. The aim of the present study is to validate the Science Teaching Efficacy Belief Instrument (STEBI-B) and to investigate the self-efficacy beliefs of 408 Greek pre-service primary teachers to teach physics. The STEBI-B assesses two dimensions: Personal Science Teaching Efficacy Beliefs (PSTEB) and Science Teaching Outcome Expectancy (STOE). An exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis substantiated this 2-factor structure. Moreover, results revealed that gender and year of study did not have a significant effect on Personal Physics Teaching Efficacy Beliefs (PPTEB) or Physics Teaching Outcome Expectancy (PTOE). On the contrary, high school course specialization had an effect on PPTEB. Both self-efficacy dimensions were positively correlated with variables such as interest in the subject of physics, interest in teaching physics, general self-efficacy in teaching physics, self-related knowledge in concepts of physics and self-related effectiveness in teaching physics. The findings also showed that variables such as interest in physics and self-related effectiveness in physics teaching were predictors of the PPTEB and PTOE dimensions. The discussion presents implications for the organization, structure, and dynamics of elementary teacher preparations. The limitations section acknowledges the weaknesses that restrict the applicability of the findings to other contexts.